More and More | Wednesday in The Word for April 01, 2026

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Plea for Purity

4 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God;

2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;

4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,

5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;

6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.

7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.

8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
A Brotherly and Orderly Life

9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;

10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more;

11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,

12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

Context

• How was this church such a blessing to Paul? (1 Thessalonians 1:2, 3, 2:19, 20, 3:7-9)

Reflection

1. Why is sexual purity ‘God’s will’ and our ‘sanctification’? (1 Corinthians 6:13-20, Galatians 6:7, Hebrews 13:4, 1 Peter 1:14-16)
2. What makes believers different from the world in this regard? (1 Corinthians 6:11, Ephesians 5:1-7)
3. How does the ‘love’ of verse 9 contrast with ‘defrauding’ and the lust of immorality? (John 3:16, Romans 5:5, Galatians 5:22, Ephesians 5:32, 1 John 3:11, 16, 4:19)
4. Why the exhortation for a ‘quiet life’ and hard work? (Colossians 3:17, 23, 2 Thess 3:6-12) How is your testimony with those on the outside? (Matthew 5:16, 1 Peter 3:15-17)

Testimony Time

1. How am I growing in grace and sanctification—from the inside out? (Romans 6:6-14, 8:6-11, Galatians 5:16-23)
2. What healing and freedom does the gospel offer for sexual sin? (Psalm 51:1-10, 103:10-12, John 8:36, 1 John 1:9)